(Reuters) - Legendary Boston baseball venue Fenway Park has been a theater of drama and heartbreak for Red Sox fans in its century-long history, but this year it is entering a whole new league. Major League Baseball's old jewel has become the hottest prop of the political season, gracing the campaigns of Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney and local Senator Scott Brown, and hosting one of the nation's top political talk shows. Fenway Park celebrates...

Louis R. Silverman was a trailblazer both in his work in the 1950s and '60s as a Hyde Park political activist and then as a Chicago land developer, presiding over the boom in condominium developments in the 1970s and '80s. Mr. Silverman managed a number of political campaigns, including Leon Despres' successful bid to become alderman of Chicago's 5th Ward and Abner Mikva's first successful race for state representative in 1956, which paved the way for Mikva's political career. Mr. Silverman later...

So Mitt Romney wishes to restrict unions from donating to the political campaigns of candidates with which they may at some time negotiate contracts. As a teacher and proud union member I say, fine ... as long as similar restrictions are placed on businesses and company officials being able to donate to candidates who may write or vote on legislation that would impact them. - Gary Riskin, Buffalo Grove

(Reuters) - The U.S. Democratic Governors' Association on Wednesday sued the state of Connecticut, saying its laws on political spending are unconstitutionally broad and limit the ability of political groups to buy independent ads backing candidates. The lawsuit said the state unfairly treats independent money spent on ads and other political messages by the national group as contributions to particular candidates, and thus subject to campaign finance limits. ...

Deliberations are scheduled to resume Wednesday in the trial of Scott Fawell and the Citizens for Ryan campaign committee after a federal jury completed its fifth full day Tuesday without reaching a verdict. Fawell, chief of staff to Ryan during his scandal-plagued tenure as secretary of state, and Ryan's political organization are on trial on charges they misused state manpower and resources on political campaigns.

Ever wondered what it would be like if our nation was ruled by a robotic oligarch? I have. It's all spelled out in my unoptioned screenplay, "Robot-Prez: Is the Office Oval ... or Evil?" While that's a fictional work of fiction, we might be seeing robotic political candidates sooner rather than later, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's latest decision to let even more money flow into political campaigns. In a 5-4 ruling Wednesday, the court struck down limits on the...

With less than a week before the primary election, this is the point in political campaigns in which candidates slurp coffee from paper cups, sleep in the passenger seat between events and badly need a haircut. It's not exactly the best time for leisure in 80-degree weather, 1,000 miles from the state where you're running for U.S. Senate. It's not supposed to be the moment for sunsets on the balcony in your own version of Margaritaville. Not the time for poolside cocktails. Or even...

State Sen. Dawn Clark Netsch (Voice of the people, March 10) recycles the same style arguments to justify public (taxpayer-paid-for) financing of political campaigns. The issue should not be public financing, it should be the tactics of the self-serving, self-indulgent political parasites who claim their "right" to leech from the taxpayer. In her piety to support ripping off others for personal political greed, she ignores the fact that every dollar spent for a politician's campaign is one...

Leave Wrigley It makes too much sense for the Cubs to move to the suburbs with a state-of-the-art stadium with unlimited night games and no more dealing with Chicago politicians or rooftop owners. Cubs fans are bigger fans of the team than of the park. If you build it, they will come. — Matt Modrich , West Chicago Amateur diplomats This is in response to "Plum posts if you can afford them; End the auction of ambassadorships" (Perspective, Feb. 16), by Robert J. Callahan, a...

A former Illinois legislator and state agency administrator pleaded guilty Thursday to mail fraud for lying about his work time. Michael D. Curran, 57, agreed in federal court to pay $84,000 in restitution to the state. Curran was an administrator for the secretary of state's office from 1999 to 2002. He earned $63,600 directing the program in which repeat drunken drivers use a mechanism that allows them to start their cars only if they're not drunk. U.S. Atty. Jan Paul...

MILWAUKEE, Wisc., Feb 10 (Reuters) - A conservative organization in Wisconsin filed a federal lawsuit against state investigators on Monday, saying its members' civil rights were violated during an ongoing secret probe into campaign financing, court documents showed. The Wisconsin Club for Growth filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, accusing investigators of violating its members' freedom of...

Starbucks Corp. investors on Wednesday rejected a shareholder proposal to prohibit the world's biggest coffee chain from making political contributions or forming a political action committee. The Starbucks board had recommended rejection of the proposal, sponsored by shareholder John Harrington, chief executive of Harrington Investments. It was introduced at the annual meeting by a representative of Corporate Accountability International, where Harrington is a board...

If voters in Cicero have a hard time distinguishing between Larry Dominick, the candidate, and Larry Dominick, the incumbent town president, it's probably because Dominick himself doesn't seem to know the difference. Town spokesman Ray Hanania confirmed last week that uniformed community service officers driving official town vehicles have gone door to door, questioning residents about whether they had applied for mail-in ballots for Tuesday's municipal primary election. Dominick's opponent, former...

* Two people killed, five injured * Lone attacker was under the influence of alcohol and drugs By Alexandra Valencia QUITO, Feb 5 (Reuters) - A knife attack in Ecuador that killed two government supporters was perpetrated by a man under the influence of drugs and alcohol and was not politically motivated, President Rafael Correa said on Tuesday. The man killed two Correa supporters and injured five more at a campaign rally on Monday,...